Alcoholics Anonmyous has been in existence since 1935, and groups now operate in 180 countries and involve approximately 2 million members. The core of their system is a pair of lists called the Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions. The Twelve Steps are a series of stages for recovering from alcoholism and the Twelve Traditions govern how meetings of AA are conducted. Though AA has been around a long time, and has clearly succeeded in terms of number of participants, it has also come under a fair amount of criticism. So, we’ll discuss both the organization and also their beliefs to see how well AA fits with Christianity and also what might be learned from AA as an organization.
Post-show thoughts: I've had a few follow-up discussions with people about this, and I think my position is relatively unchanged. One thing that must be said is that your encounter with AA will depend heavily upon the particular group you are in, as is the case with any relatively autonomous small group of people. Nonetheless, there are some generalizations which seem to hold true. AA seems to help a lot of people stop drinking, which is the defined purpose of the organzation. AA is somewhat problematic in that it deliberately uses such a generic notion of God which explicitly avoids any mention of Jesus or His atonement, though many of their principles are rooted in Biblical teachings, including especially those of Jesus. Despite this, AA often winds up leading people to seek a fuller concept of God, and many become Christians. I find the twelve steps to be a marvelously beautiful ethical system which I would encourage anyone to follow, alcohol problems or not.
All that being said, probably my own major concern about AA (and keep in mind that I am a fairly strong supporter, call it 85%) is that their system is self-limiting. A major doctrinal tenet is that the alcoholic will always be an alcoholic and, more importantly, will always be defined by his alcoholism and therefore need AA. Anyone who leaves the group is considered to have reverted to drinking, which imitates the basic characteristic of any cult or cult-like group which is to define all non- or former-participants as being defective somehow. The reality is that people should be growing in Christ and eventually no longer need AA, even discovering in at many cases that they are no longer defined by their alcoholism. They still may not be free to drink at all. But though I am convinced AA (and groups like them) can be vital for getting people from point A to B, C, and D, they can become an impediment to getting them to points E, F, and G. And the reason for this limit in the second part is actually an essential element of the success at the first part.
So, it may not even be fair to ask AA to change how they do things. My concern is that some people may need to move forward from AA but be hindered by their oft-repeated belief that to leave AA can only be to move backward. As with any strict (perhaps legalistic) system, there is great benefit for the person who comes in having chaos in his life, but there can only be so much growth within a system so heavily dependent upon being a system.
As for criticisms that AA is a secret evangelizing society, this is silly. Anyone even slightly familiar with AA realizes that it is a spiritual/religious group. Whereas I might criticize AA for not being explicitly Christian enough, it's downright silly for the atheist to complain that they are dishonestly theistic. Of course they're theistic. It's right there in the Twelve Steps. (This is a criticism apparently quite important to the Orange-Papers webmaster.)
Links:
AA Home Page by Alcoholics Anonymous
AA by Wikipedia
Critique of AA (very hostile, but thorough) by Orange-Papers.org
AA alternatives by Deanesmay.com
1 comment:
I am an AA member in good standing and active in helping teach others about 12 step programs (12th step work). That said, I actually agree with many criticisms of the 12 step programs, most especially with criticisms that it's rammed down many people's throats inappropriately by some judges and some employers, and, I firmly believe there are non-12 step programs that work extremely well for some people. I chose AA because I was at a point in my life where it was the right fit for me, and because I know it helps others. But there are other programs I know for a fact have been helpful to other people, and I think some old AA hands are way too quick with the "this is the only thing that works" mentality.
I'd be happy to discuss it with you some time if you like. My phone# is 734-641-6618 (and no, I'm not soliciting phone calls from vendors, but my number is not-unlisted and so I'm not afraid to post it in a public forum either).
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